26 NEW SOUTH WALES 



Family Raiid.e. 



351. Raiia lamprieri, Richardson. " Thorn Back." 



Family Trygonid^. ' 



352. Trygon pastinaca, Linn. " Sting Ray," N.S.W. 



353. T. tuberculata, Lacep. 



354. Urolojjluis testacetcs, Mull & Henle. 



Family Mylobatid^. 



355. Mylohatis aquila, Linn. 



356. M. australis, Macleay. 



357. Ceratoptera alfredi, Krefffc. 



Sub-Class LEPTOCARDIL 



358. Branchiostoma Lanceolatum, Pall, or the Lancelet. 



359. Choetodon strigatiis, Bleek. 



360. Periophthahnus cnostralis, Castlenau. 

 36L Chilodactyliis onulhalli, Macleay. 



All the genera that are of any importance or have an economical value 

 are described at sufficient length in the next chapter ; but in the foregoing 

 list there are a few genera which are represented in Australia by a great 

 number of species. They are not important as articles of food, but as 

 they are so numerous in our seas, and therefore become characteristic 

 of our fish fauna, a more extended notice of them is desirable. Some 

 remarks will also be added on a few of the remarkable and exceptional 

 fishes which are found on the coasts of New South Wales. 



Frog-fish. 



Or Antennarius belonging to the order of Pediculati, a name which 

 expresses the singular foot-like office of the fins, which are more fitted for 

 walking along the bottom than for swimming. To this order belongs 

 Lophius 2}'iscatoruts or Fishing Frog so well known all over the world. 

 The genus Antennarius, of which we have many species in Australia, is 

 distinguished by a very large head and frog-like body without scales, with 

 a peculiar tentacle just above the snout. The species are pelagic, mostly 

 tropical, and found crawling on floating sea-weed in mid-ocean. They 

 cannot swim much, so on the coast conceal themselves amid the stones 

 and sea-weed, holding on by their arm-like fins. They are all highly 

 coloured, yet their hues are assimilated to the surrounding medium, so 

 that it is very difficult to distinguish them in the water. All the sjiecies 

 have a wide range, and this arises from their living in the open ocean, 

 attached to sea- weed, whence they may be drifted anywhere. As their 

 colour depends much on the medium where they are found, no doubt a 

 good many different names have been applied to the same fish by 

 naturalists. This is the case with our common A. marmoratus, Less., 

 which has a vocabulary of synonyms all to itself. Probably some of our 

 many specific distinctions will be reduced hereafter to two or three forms. 



